Best county roads

[TheHighwayMan3561]

In Minnesota I nominate among others:
-Lake County 6
-Cook County 7
-Houston County 249 (former state highway)
-St. Louis/Lake County 61 (old US 61)
-Wabasha County 18
-Fillmore County 12

Wisconsin has a bunch of good ones in bluff and farm country too.

[Scott5114]

Best how? Pavement quality? Scenery? Obnoxiousness of the owners of adjacent acreages?

Out here "county roads" are just a mile grid, with no designated county routes, so really the only thing that makes a route "best" is whether it goes through or tees out because there's an obstacle like a river or lake in the way. Otherwise a route will be more or less identical to the routes a mile on either side of it.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I guess "scenery"  was what I was thinking.

[hotdogPi]

Massachusetts isn't supposed to have any county roads, although there is one shield error in existence. However, roads that are not state-maintained are town-maintained... and the town of Nantucket is the entirety of its county. It happens to be an island, so there are some good ocean views, although I wouldn't know which roads are the best, never having been there.

[Dirt Roads]

Often mentioned before in other threads, but the scenery on "county" roads in western Loudoun County, Virginia is spectacular, both in Loudoun Valley and along the eastern front of the Blue Ridge.  Once upon a time, you could include all of Loudoun County but it has become way too burbane.  Of course, in Virginia and West Virginia these are state secondaries.

[Max Rockatansky]

For California; Tulare County J37 for the epic one lane climb, destination in Mountain Home State Forest Park, and the grand ambition behind it as part of the partially constructed Lone Pine-Porterville High Sierra Road.  With Arizona it is pretty hard to beat Mohave County 10 as it is former US 66 over Sitgreaves Pass.

[Mr. Matté]

Mercer (NJ) 653

[thspfc]

I-97

[SkyPesos]

I'll nominate the Ronald Reagan Cross County Highway for my city. Can't say that it isn't a county road when "cross county" is part of its full name

[cl94]

Massachusetts isn't supposed to have any county roads, although there is one shield error in existence.

Said error shield has been confirmed gone for well over a year.

[dgolub]

Rockland County (NY) has a number of county routes with cool stuff on them:

• CR 1 goes right next to the Hudson River.
  
• CR 23 has a traffic-light-controlled one-lane underpass under abandoned railroad tracks.
  
• CR 28 has scenic views of the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge (I-87/I-287) from above.
  
• CR 33 goes across a mountain.
  
• CR 90 goes by rock cliffs.
  
• CR 108 loops around by a different part of the Hudson River.
  In New Jersey, there's the county routes that make up Ocean Drive, which deserve a mention here as well.

[oscar]

In Hawaii, county route 31 in southeastern Maui (the parts of the Hana and Piilani Highways not included in the state highway system). See http://www.hawaiihighways.com/photos-Hana-Hwy-page2.htm and http://www.hawaiihighways.com/photos-Piilani-Hwy.htm

County route 137 along the southeastern Puna coast might also be a contender. However, on my last trip out there in 2019, much of the road was closed after heavy damage from the latest lava flows from the Kilauea volcano. In particular, I couldn't drive to the remaining segment of red cinder pavement between county 132 and Pohoiki Rd., to see if it has been covered by lava.

[Ned Weasel]

I'm surprised the Santa Clara County Expressways haven't been mentioned yet.  I thought they were well known for being high-quality county routes.  I haven't driven any of them personally, however.  My travels to California have been rather limited.

Personally, I'm rather partial to New Jersey's 5xx and 6xx series of roads.  Somerset County 527/Easton Avenue is one I have fond memories of driving.

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm surprised the Santa Clara County Expressways haven't been mentioned yet.  I thought they were well known for being high-quality county routes.  I haven't driven any of them personally, however.  My travels to California have been rather limited.

Really they aren't all that notable other than a really good (at times) surface highway.  I can't look at something like J37 (which is a totally unique highway) and pick something more pedestrian like a urban surface highway.  Then again, my view on "best county roads"  would be a list of stuff that is fun to drive. 

[webny99]

My personal favorite is Cayuga Co. 122 (Old NY 104A).
It's got a default 55 mph speed limit, no shoulders, light traffic, rolling hills, and it's a nice shortcut that avoids the speed trap of Sterling.

There's lots of great candidates in the Finger Lakes too, including Ontario Co. 12 which has similar characteristics to the one above, plus the famed view of Canandaigua Lake that you can see in the Street View link.

[NWI_Irish96]

The best county road in Indiana would have to be Elkhart County Road 17. Four lanes, divided, really ought to be a state highway.

[thspfc]

CTH-C between US-151 and Rio is pretty nice. Better than a lot of state highways in WI.

[Flint1979]

The road in Oklahoma that Paul McCartney stopped on to ask for directions back in 2008.

[sparker]

As I've iterated in several other threads, multi-county (CA) J7 is one of my all-time favorite roads and a viable alternate to CA 99 in the northern San Joaquin valley.  Not only does it track the BNSF main line, which is always busy (and which hosts the Amtrak California "San Joquin" service) but it crosses several trestles above the rivers flowing down from the Sierra (Merced, Tuolumne, Stanislaus, etc.) and traverses both farmland and, in its northern reaches near Modesto and Riverbank, the far-reaches of the localized housing boom that provides relatively affordable housing for Bay Area commuters (at the expense of time & distance).  I've probably driven that highway a couple dozen times since first trying it in the early '80's, and have never been bored -- always something a little different every time.   

[TJS23]

what about the N9 county road (Kanan Dune Rd) between Malibu and Agoura Hills that goes through tunnels and stuff, that should be a state highway for sure

[sparker]

what about the N9 county road (Kanan Dune Rd) between Malibu and Agoura Hills that goes through tunnels and stuff, that should be a state highway for sure

D7 has been shedding surface streets and roads for the last quarter century; just because it's a logical addition to the state system doesn't mean they're willing to assume maintenance.  Its chance for such peaked in the late '60's/early 70's when Caltrans was adding mileage over previous county roads (e.g. 62 east of 29 Palms, all of 247, 18 west of Victorville).  Conceivably they could have made it part of the long-projected CA 64 instead of N1/Malibu Canyon Rd.; but they didn't choose to do so.  It would have been the only state route over the Santa Monica Mountains that wasn't a PITA to drive! 

[mgk920]

In Wisconsin, I'd say Dodge County 'A' from US 151 in Beaver Dam to WI 26 a bit SW of Juneau.  It is a recently paved concrete highway that is better than many major state highways.

Mike

[kphoger]

My personal favorite is Cayuga Co. 122 (Old NY 104A).
It's got a default 55 mph speed limit, no shoulders, light traffic, rolling hills, and it's a nice shortcut that avoids the speed trap of Sterling.

There's lots of great candidates in the Finger Lakes too, including Ontario Co. 12 which has similar characteristics to the one above, plus the famed view of Canandaigua Lake that you can see in the Street View link.

Your links are bad.

[skluth]

In Wisconsin, I'd say Dodge County 'A' from US 151 in Beaver Dam to WI 26 a bit SW of Juneau.  It is a recently paved concrete highway that is better than many major state highways.

Mike

They should move WI 26 onto CTH A. It's a better road and even the trucks use it over 26 through Juneau.

When I was much younger (like 40+ years ago), my friends and I frequently cycled the excellent county highways around Green Bay and Madison. Both cities' expansions have made most of these roads far too busy, but I still have very fond memories of cycling CTH E to Appleton and Seminole Highway/ CTH PB on the way to Paoli. We'd also sometimes drive the side roads between Green Bay and Madison (CTH T east of Columbus and CTH M north of Waupun were favorites), especially on weekends in the days before US 151 was four lanes. I haven't lived in Wisconsin since 1987, but the CTH system in Wisconsin once was mostly good roads for cycling and driving, many quite scenic.

[webny99]

My personal favorite is Cayuga Co. 122 (Old NY 104A).
It's got a default 55 mph speed limit, no shoulders, light traffic, rolling hills, and it's a nice shortcut that avoids the speed trap of Sterling.

There's lots of great candidates in the Finger Lakes too, including Ontario Co. 12 which has similar characteristics to the one above, plus the famed view of Canandaigua Lake that you can see in the Street View link.

Your links are bad.

Whoops. I did it from mobile and the regular street address showed up within the url tags before the actual link address. Fixed.